MHHBT
The Stuff We
Throw Away
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FILMSCRIPTS ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
This script is one of a series published to help
lecturers, teachers, and group leaders prepare for viewing
and discussion of solid waste management films. It is
also intended for those in an audience who want
a permanent record of the data presented in a film.
It was written by Stuart Finley, Inc.,
the producer of the film, in close cooperation with staff of the
Federal solid waste management program.
Titles and publication numbers of scripts
for solid waste management films are shown below.
The Third Pollution SW-39c.l
Bum, Bury, or What? SW-39c.2
Recycling SW-39c.3
5000 Dumps SW-39c.4
In the Bag SW-39c.5
The Green Box SW-39c.6
The Stuff We Throw Away SW-39c.7
What's New in Solid Waste Management? SW-39c. 8
Instructions for borrowing or purchasing these films are
given with each script and are summarized in the
brochure Films Tell the Story, available from the
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C., 20402.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1972
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THE STUFF WE THROW AWAY
22-minute, 16-mm motion picture, sound, color. Order no. M-2048-X.*
THE STUFF WE THROW AWAY describes the massive problem of collecting and
disposing of America's solid wastes. It illustrates a variety of new and improved
techniques. These aie being investigated and demonstrated under provisions of the
Solid Waste Disposal Act. The film is designed to be useful to the lay public while
providing technical guidance to municipal engineers and local officials.
SEQUENCE #1 - INTRODUCTION
New York City streets during 1968
sanitation strike
(super titles)
Lady walking by heap of plastic
bags of refuse
Stack of bags of refuse
Ladies walk thru stacks of refuse
Fashionable apartment with refuse
stacked out front
Garbage littering slum streets; other
scenes showing refuse on streets
Once upon a time, there was a big American city that had a little
problem ... a garbage strike.
As the days went by, the little problem got bigger!
... and bigger! (pause) Stacks of sacks.
"How deep can this get?"
In the better parts of town, they had very high-class garbage.
But, in the low-rent areas, they had very common garbage. But,
it's a funny thing... all over town ... swanky areas and slums
alike ... things smelled just about the same ... pretty stinky!
Finally, the people of this big city settled their little strike ...
and many of them, to this day, remember the moral of the
story ... that:
*Borrow from: National Medical Audiovisual Center
Purchase from: Stuart Finley, Inc.
3428 Mansfield Road, Falls Church, Va. 22041
Area Code 703/802-7700
Prints-$200
Cleared for TV
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“effective solid waste management is essential in this
complicated twentieth century urban civilization.”
SEQUENCE #2- ThE PROBLEM
Dump Only if we protect and preserve the natural environment can man
survive. Our discards. - . we call them solid wastes.. .jeopardize
our continued existence. The landscape becomes littered with
dumps...
Burning dump then, to reduce the volume, we set fire to them and thus diminish
one problem and create another even more insidious one . . . air
pollution.
New York Strike pickup Americans throw away over five pounds of refuse per person per
day.. . a staggering total of nearly 200 million tons a year.
Unfortunately, pollution is proportional to people. Collection
and disposal problems become aggravated when people live in
concentrated areas. It costs New York City $30 to collect and
dispose of a ton of solid wastes.
Maui dumps into the ocean Throughout the country, 13 percent of the population has no
refuse collection service. This results in indiscriminate dumping
which litters the landscape and creates health hazards. The
President and the Congress have indicated great concern and
programs are now underway to assist local communities. The
federal program which includes a wide variety of research and
demonstration grants is predicated on one fundamental prin-
ciple. . . t must develop a better system.
SEQUENCE #3- RESEARCH PROJECTS
Men loading and operating fluidized Ever wonder how solid wastes could be handled more effectively?
bed incinerator Some new ideas from the Environmental Health Service. Here in a
University of West Virginia laboratory, a new concept of
incineration is being investigated. Refuse, already ground to
uniform consistency, is fed into a fluidized bed reactor. . . equip-
ment commonly used by the chemical industry to obtain
controlled reactions between gases and solids. Here, the modified
pilot reactor becomes a furnace. The gas is air, moving up the
column under pressure, and the suspended solids are a mixture of
particles of burning refuse and inert sand which serves as a heat
sink.
Dumonstration tube of boiling This is a simulation of the reaction occurring inside the furnace as
water: man drops red balls in; CU the particles reach a fluidized state resembling boiling water at
balls suspended in tube combustion temperatures. The development of fluidized bed
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incineration is one of many varied projects conducted with
federal aid under programs of the Bureau of Solid Waste
Management, a branch of the Environmental Health Service,
Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare.* The incinerator is still experimental, but it already
promises more complete and cleaner burnij ig.
2 men examining residue Demonstration project personnel examine the residue which
constitutes only a small fraction of the original volume of the
refuse. The fluidized bed incinerator stack emission contains far
less particulate loading than conventional incinerators.
Attendants at hospital waste col- Another university research project is examining hospital wastes.
lection station Think how diverse they are. In addition to the ordinary
ones - . . garbage, paper, and other dry combustibles and non-
combustibles such as bottles and cans. . . hospitals generate
unusual wastes related to medical treatment and surgical pro-
cedures that require special handling and disposal.
Man separating waste materials In order to develop data on the nature and volume of the various
waste materials and to devise better management methods, they
are identified and carefully separated.
Man examining waste samples Analysis of the different materials and their processing may even
point to desirable changes in the design of hospital service areas
and waste handling equipment.
2 men remove molten glass from Glass has few equals as a container. It’s chemically inert. . . won’t
kiln and pour into mold react with any other substance. That’s good. But once millions of
bottles and jars are discarded, they won’t burn or degrade. They
just lie there, taking up space. That’s bad. This team of Clemson
University scientists is making glass with a difference.
Glass sample It’s soluble in water. But what good is it for holding. . - say, soda
pop?
Glass goes into coating apparatus Well, first it’s put into a “chemical vapor deposition apparatus,”
and coated with a very thin film of inert material.
Coated sample Then, it will hold anything.
Time lapse: broken sample dis- Break the film. . . and the glass slowly dissolves. So does the solid
integrates beside unbroken sample waste handling chore.
*Now the Office of Solid Waste Management Programs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Man examining caged chickens; pan
down to waste trough; water
flushes through; filtration tank with
man sampling
Teacher and students at strip mine
Chickens and other animals concentrated in commercial cages and
feed-lots contribute increasingly to the solid waste load. In this
University of California experimental closed hydraulic system,
water flushes the manure to a high-rate oxidation pond. There, its
nutrients are reclaimed photosynthetically in the production of
algae. The digested sludge can be used as fertilizer, and the dried
algae as supplemental food for ruminant animals. Resources from
waste. . . through research.
These students inspecting an abandoned strip mine are a new
breed. Their graduate studies emphasize environmental control.
Several universities are expanding their curricula to provide
qualified engineers in this crucial area.. . recognition that spe-
cialized training, as well as imaginative research, is essential for
effective solid waste management and the total protection of our
environment.
SEQUENCE #4- COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
Bagged waste collections, Bar-
rington, R.I.
Container storage and collections,
Chilton County, Ala.
Truck picks up container
Container-train system, Wichita
Falls, Texas
Solid wastes are in the bag in Barrington, Rhode Island. The
heavy paper container holds mixed refuse, and is deposited...
bag and all. . . in a sanitary landfill. The simple, efficient
system. . . after 3 years’ demonstration is proving easier for
householders, a time- and labor-saver for workers, cleaner and
more sarntaiy for everyone. Townspeople favor the system, and a
sharp increase in the volume of wastes collected indicates they’re
making greater use of a better service.
In a rural community, house-to-house collection is economically
unfeasible, and random dumping and littering is unbearable.
Chilton County, Alabama, found a solution. It’s keeping itself
“clean and green” with a network of neighborhood storage
receptacles. Residents deposit their household refuse whenever
it’s convenient.
The containers are emptied twice weekly, and the accumulations
placed in a central sanitary landfIll shared with the county seat of
Clanton and 3 smaler municipalities. These cities continue to
provide house-to-house collection but have closed their open
dumps. Throughout the county, about 90 small random dumps
and their rat populations have been replaced by about the same
number of handy and tidy containers and one specially equipped
truck. . . a pretty fair exchange.
The container-and-truck idea is applied in a different way in
Wichita Falls, Texas. Here, the containers have wheels. The waste
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load is transferred to the mother truck for disposal at a sanitary
landfill, while a train of containers is used to make collections
along the route. All data on routes, load weights, equipment and
personnel usage are computerized daily. Data analysis relates the
type and volume of waste generation to land-use . . . residential,
commercial, and industrial.. . and will permit development of a
complete management model, simulating the container-train
collection and disposal system. With this model, optimum use and
expansion can be projected as population grows and land-use
patterns change . . . demonstrating a systems analysis approach to
solid waste management planning.
SEQUENCE #5— LANDFILLING TECHNIQUES
Kenilworth dump and sanitary An open dump is bad enough. A burning one is worse. Fire
landfill, Washington, D.C. consumes some of the combustible waste, but scourges the area
with smoke and ash. . and rats and flies survive it. Here at
Kenilworth, in the heart of metropolitan Washington, D.C., a
burning dump was transformed into a model sanitary landfill
under a Health, Education, and Welfare demonstration grant.
Deliveries of refuse and incinerator residue were spread and
compacted, and completely covered with 6 to 8 inches of earth
by the end of each day.
The completed fill, contoured and graded, is being developed as a
recreational area by the District of Columbia and the National
Park Service. . . demonstrating the value of the sanitary landfill
technique in reclaiming a blighted area.
Strip mine and landfill, Frostburg, Another kind of scar on the landscape.. . an abandoned strip
Md. mine. Suppose it could serve as a burial ground for solid wastes
and be reclaimed in the process? Sanitary landfffl demon-
strations are being conducted at this mine site and 2 others in
Allegheny County, Maryland, by the County, the State, and the
Cities of Frostburg and Cumberland. They provide centralized
service to 60 thousand people, have eliminated Cumberland’s
open burning dump and smaller scattered ones, and will eventu-
ally restore these old mining sites to their natural beauty.
Above-grade landfill, Virginia Here’s a small mountain of refuse near the Atlantic Ocean at
Beach, Va. Virginia Beach.. . an innovative sanitary landfill conceived by
the state director of Virginia’s solid waste activities. It will take
all of the city’s refuse for several years to build “Mount
Trashmore,” as wags call it, to a height of about 60 feet above
ground level. . . a bowl around an artificial lake and something of
a landmark in an area of flat terrain. A very useful landmark,
though. Grading already anticipates its ultimate purpose. Some
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day this will be an expanse of seats. . . an amphitheatre with a
soap box derby track and other facilities for the enjoyment of
this coastal resort’s residents and visitors.
Some coastal communities are considering disposal of their solid
wastes by dropping them well off shore at sea, but too little is yet
known of the ecological effects of this practice. Certainly, most
of the nation has no choice but to use the land for disposal. In
the process, the land can be despoiled, or it can be protected and
enhanced. Sanitary landfill techniques make the difference.
SEQUENCE #6- THE MOLE AND THE MONSTER
D & J Press, Niagara County, N.Y. This prototype press is known as the “monster.” Perhaps it
should be called the “magician.” It makes solid wastes disappear.
The machine receives refuse by the truckload and, in a series of
coordinated operations, compacts it, extrudes it in the bottom of
a trench, all the while di ing the trench, backfiiling it, and
compacting and levelling the earth. This new variation on the
sanitary landfill concept is being used on a hundred-acre site by
the Niagara County. New York, Solid Waste Agency. Its members
include eight of the county’s twelve towns, as well as the Cities of
Lockport, North Tonawanda, and Niagara Falls. The Agency
disposes of the solid wastes of a quarter of a million people, and
is demonstrating and evaluating a novel new landfilling machine.
“Mok,” King County, Wash. Here in King County, Washington, which also includes the City of
Seattle, solid wastes are being loaded into another prototype
landfill machine. .. this one constructed to the County’s own
specifications. The “mole” performs about the same functions as
the “monster” except that the trench is excavated and backfulled
by auxiliary equipment.
The “monster” and the “mole” represent new concepts in
sanitary landfilling and a great deal more experience in their
operation is needed. They may prove feasible and economically
practicable largely under conditions where established sanitary
landfill techniques cannot be used. . . but in such special situ-
ations, their contributions to good solid waste management will
be invaluable.
SEQUENCE #7— MILLING AND COMPOSTING
Reduction mill in operation at Mad- The possible advantages of grinding solid wastes in a hammer-type
&son, Wisc. various scenes reduction mill before deposit in a landfill are being demonstrated
by the City of Madison, Wisconsin. Milling refuse substantially
reduces its volume and effectively extends the life of the fill site.
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Windrow of compost being turned
The mill is simply constructed, easy to operate, and quite reliable.
The milled product spreads easily on the fifi, compacts and grades
well and settles less than unmilled refuse. The product is not
odorous, and a control area. . . left without earth cover. . . has
attracted no rats. Observations so far indicate that the quantity of
material rejected by the mill is quite low, and that the use of
milled refuse considerably improves the quality of the landfill.
Milled refuse is also being composted in several projects such as
this one conducted by the Joint U.S. Public Health Service-
Tennessee Valley Authority Composting Project at Johnson City,
Tennessee. Composting is not the one miraculous solution to all
disposal problems; but it does convert organic refuse to a useful
product, and in some situations may be more practicable than
landfihling or incineration.
SEQUENCE #8— INCiNERATION PROBLEMS
Dirty incinerator operation
Incineration is like the little girl children sing about. When it’s
good, it’s very, very good. . . but when it’s bad, it’s horrid. About
360 incinerators handle almost 10 percent of the nation’s total
waste load; but no more than 50 of these facilities are adequate.
Some of the others can be remodeled. The rest should simply be
replaced. And additional ones will be needed as the volume of
solid waste increases.
SEQUENCE #9— INCINERATION TECHNIQUES
Shippensburg, Pa. incinerator plant;
interior shot front end loader push-
ing refuse into chute; TS refuse
moving on conveyor
Borough Mgr. Smith opening and
looking into incinerator porthole;
1 ’S flames inside
MS perforated drum
Inside revolving drum
Cincinnati experimental incin-
erator; top of stack smoking; WS
zooms out to whole unit
The Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, Sanitary Authority is demon-
strating a new type of incinerator because it must dispose of the
solid wastes of some 12,500 people without a suitable area being
available for a sanitary landifil. The combustible refuse goes into
a facility specially designed to meet air pollution control
standards and eliminate environmental health hazards while
reducing the refuse to the smallest possible volur.;. . .
The heart of the furnace is this stainless steel perforated drum,
revolving in a steady stream of air. . - like a giant clothes
dryer - - - to achieve maximum combustion.
The rotary grate incinerator, as it is called, may prove to be an
efficient, economical means of solid waste disposal for many
relatively small urban areas.
An incinerator stack shouldn’t smoke. This one doesn t except
when it’s made to. It’s part of an experimental furnace built to
study the control of emissions.
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Smoking fire bed with ring of air Through the nozzles ringing this fire bed, directed streams of air
nozzles (2 scenes) can be introduced for cleaner burning.
Technicians operating and mon- As investigators alter combustion conditions, they monitor the
itoring; zoom out to WS of unit composition of gases flowing upward through the stack and into
with no stack emission visible the atmosphere. Seventy percent of America’s municipal incin-
erators do not have adequate air pollution control devices. This
Environmental Health Service staff research project is representa-
tive of the efforts to advance the technology of incineration.
SEQUENCE #10 — CONCLUSION
Fresno, Calif. grape vineyard zoom- A grape vineyard next to an open burning dump just doesn’t
ing out to include windborne ash make any sense.
and smoke; IS of burning dump
“No Dumping” sign full screen, The dump is closed.. as all local cities, the county, the state,
zooming out to closed dump and the federal government cooperated to devise a unique
trailblazing study of the solid waste problems facing a 12-
Fresno refuse trucks on collection hundred-square-mile area including the city of Fresno, California.
rounds (3 scenes) Uncoordinated methods of handling municipal, industrial, and
agricultural wastes were analyzed; and a total, integrated waste
management plan devised. Most plans are concerned simply with
handling wastes. The Fresno Study, using systems analysis,
focuses on managing solid wastes to achieve the desired end
product throughout the urban-rural region: unblighted land...
clean air and water.. . a pleasant, healthful environment.
IS compactor at landfill, zooming Sanitary landfilling and composting are emphasized. . . with very
out to pan of long line of trucks; little incineration.. . and greater resources recovery is a future
CU of truck, followed by another goal.
pan of trucks
The more we consume and use. . . the more we throw away.
an endless stream of solid wastes with technical problems and
environmental dangers that have become national in scope. These
research, development, and training activities are a portion of the
national search for new and improved methods.
There are many more projects, and there will be many others, all
supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, providing federal
assistance to the technological advancement of solid waste
management. Whether local and state governments and private
enterprise can apply the advancements depends on the willingness
of the American people to bear the cost. Saving the environment
will be expensive; but then, another one isn’t available. . - at any
price.
U lP Tlm f 19fl— 759-391/130 8 ua72—3—32s
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